Smoldering remains
by ioxmo
Summary: The last few moments in a sad girl's life...Rated T for violence.
1. Chapter 1

Note: I wrote this on a whim and haven't proofread it. I don't know much about Danny Phantom (yet), but I do really like Ember. So, keep that in mind. I may continue this into a story, but for now it's what it is... Also, I don't own any characters to Danny Phantom and all that jazz.

Sitting at an intersection in a hand-me-down car from her parents, Ember stared at the tiny trumpet in the center of the steering wheel. She was lost in empty thought, until a sound snapped her back into the present. HONK! The car behind was sounding its horn. She slowly looked up to see the traffic light had turned green. With a sigh, she released the brake and crossed through the intersection. The stench of chemical additives wafted from the backseat, but Ember had become used to it. Several canisters sloshed as she hit a mild pot hole. Clinching her lips tightly, a flashback to her recent 19th birthday came to mind. With a slight shake of her head, she let it go; it didn't matter anymore. A few minutes passed before she arrived at a busy outdoor cafe. Carefully, she parallel parked between two dark blue cars. She sighed again as she turned the key backwards, causing the car's engine to whimper to silence. Reaching down, she pressed the trunk release button before lifting her heavy head to see many occupied tables on the deck. She did not bother with the keys, leaving them in the ignition, as she exited. Instead, she opened the rear driver's side door and retrieved a small, rectangular, plastic bottle. It was filled with a volatile mixture of petroleum distillates. After unscrewing the lid, she tossed it to the side and returned to the front seat. Instead of sitting down, she turned the bottle upside down, spilling its contents into the cloth seats. She moved the bottle around, soaking the seat and then letting the remnants drain into the floor. After shaking the last few clear drops from the bottle, she dropped it into the floorboard. Next, a five gallon can of gasoline was wearily lifted out of the backseat. Nobody had noticed what she was doing, yet. After pulling the cap off, she drenched the backseat with several pounds of gasoline, taking care not to pour any on the only remaining can in the floorboard. A few people began to peer. A person walking to their car passed her and gave a second glance.

"What the hell are you looking at?" She said snidely.

The man turned away, not wanting any trouble, and continued up the string of cars. Once again, she drained every drop she could out of the plastic gas can before abandoning it onto the backseat cushion. Despite the overwhelming smell, she fished out the final, one gallon, can out of the floorboard and removed its cap. She walked around to the trunk and set the can on the ground. Inside, there was a propane torch. She looked at the chipped blue paint of it as she held it, before slamming the trunk lid closed. Bending over, she retrieved the gasoline with her free hand and walked back to the driver's side back door. Once again, the can was placed on the ground. She twisted the small knob on the side of the propane canister, causing a hiss to sound as invisible vapors escaped the muzzle. One pull of the red trigger caused a click, but no flame. Two more pulls and clicks and still nothing. She growled, pulling the trigger several times until finally a click sparked a long, slender inferno. She looked up, over the roof of the car, at the many people not paying attention to her anymore.

"Hey!" She yelled.

Nobody turned their heads, perhaps due to the ambiance of the street drowning her out. She growled again.

"Hey! Look at me!" She yelled again.

Still nobody paid her even a glance. She shook her head in anger, gritted her teeth, then screamed at the top of her lungs...

"Hey mother fuckers! Look at me dammit!"

Finally, people looked. She promptly angled the flame from the torch down at the back seat, creating a massive flash as vapors and the backseat were ignited. She jumped back a bit, shielding her face with the only free hand. People in the crowd gasped and muttered things. Without hesitation, Ember moved to the front seat and caused another eruption of flame. Employees began to spill from the restaurant, including a familiar face.

"Ember!" a boy yelled.

It was her ex-boyfriend. She could not hear well from the sound of a helicopter passing. She closed the knob on the canister, extinguishing the flame. Quickly, she reached down and grabbed the can of gas before walking around the flaming car. She stopped just a few feet from the first table. The propane torch was set on the ground, on its side.

"I gave everything to you." She said, staring at her ex-boyfriend, "Some things I can't take back."

Tears began to build in the corners of her eyes.

"I promise you." She said, lifting the can above her head, "That you will regret it."

Turning the can over, gasoline poured from the spout on top of her head and flowed down her body. She held her eyes closed tightly. After a few seconds, she moved the can down a bit to pour on her chest. It was soon empty and she tossed it to the side. The crowd pleaded with her, including her ex-boyfriend, not to do it, but the heartfelt requests fell on deaf ears. Using her index fingers, she wiped her eyes, then with the edge of her palms she did the same. Opening them, she felt a stinging sensation. It hurt, but she ignored the pain.

"You will never forget me." She yelled, "You will always remember my name!"

She snatched the torch from the ground and released the vapors once again. The car behind was engulfed in hellish flames.

"You bastard!" She yelled, her anger festering, "Hope this makes you happy!"

Click. Foosh! She aimed the flame at her torso, sending a wave of fire up her chest and into her face. She screamed in pain, dropping the torch. It hit the ground and rolled a few feet away from her. She dropped to her knees as the crowd screamed. Flames quickly surrounded her as she cried like a banshee in unimaginable agony. She collapsed to her side in almost a fetal position as fire continued to consume her. Some people in the crowd scrambled to find something to put out the fire while others dialed 911. Her ex-boyfriend froze in fear. Before blacking out, she felt someone try to smother the flames with a tablecloth from one of the tables.

Blackness faded into a bright white light. Then it faded. Then, another bright white light came into view and the process repeated.

"Am I in heaven?" She thought briefly.

Suddenly, harrowing pain set in. She tried to scream, but only a few garbled yelped came out.

"Hang in there, hon." A voice said.

Her vision started getting wider. She saw a face and heard something technical being said by another voice. Turning her eyes slightly, she saw that she was surrounded by medical staff. The lights above must have waken her. The gurney she was on whizzed through the hospital hallway with great urgency.

"We need to get her in there now." A male voice said.

"Burn 201 is open." The first voice said.

The gurney suddenly gained in speed. Ember couldn't think clearly, trying to piece together what was happening. It did not matter, however. Her vision began to go blurry. She heard several beeps and strange electronic noises as well as paniced voices.

"We're losing her!" A male said, followed by something Ember could not understand.

The gurney rolled to a stop in an emergency room of the burn ward. Ember, though her vision blurry, could see the bright white light above her. A mask was placed over her charred face to help her breath, because her breaths were very shallow. She moaned slightly, prompting a nurse to speak.

"Hon, why did..." is all Ember heard.

Her hearing suddenly became bedraggled. Her vision started going even more blurry.

"Oh no." A woman said, "Doctor!"

Ember did not hear this, nor the multiple alarms that sounded. The light she stared at began to turn gray. It faded more and more. The pain stopped. Finally, the gray faded into blackness and she lost consciousness.

Out of nothingness came a glint of dim light. It was extremely fuzzy, but it was there. The pain, however, was not. Ember moaned a bit, blinking. The blackness slowly spread away from the center of her vision, causing the light to grow brighter until she realized it was a florescent light fixture. She started hearing a ticking noise, too. Turning her head to the right, with ease, she noticed a simple clock hanging on the wall. Several hours had passed since her self-immolation. She started regaining some strength and raised an arm. She gasped at the ghastly color it was. It was quickly set back down and she stared at the light, resting. About fifteen minutes passed, as she kept track, before she felt as if enough strength had been accumulated. She sat up with a flick of her head forward and slid off the metal table she had been resting on.

"What the heck..." She said to herself, looking at the pale color of her skin.

She looked around and noticed to her right, on the wall, were several cabinets. She had a sudden epiphany; she just woke up in the morgue.

"They put me in here when I'm still alive?!" She growled.

The growl suddenly became a whimper as she turned around and made a gruesome discovery; her charred remains. It was an indescribable mess of blackened flesh. She covered her mouth with a hand and tried to vomit. However, nothing came out. No longer would she require food she realized a few moments later.

"What the hell do I do now?" She said, paniced, looking around the room.


	2. Chapter 2

Tick...tick...tick... filled the room as Ember scrambled to make sense of things.

"I gotta get out of here." She thought, looking towards the door.

She reached for the knob as she looked at the clock again. She missed the knob, or so she thought. Focusing her sight on the knob, she tried to grab it again. She couldn't; her hand slipped right through it. She was speechless and confused. She tried pushing on the door, but her hand disappeared behind it. Holding her hand there for a second, she realized what she could do and walked through the door. It was some sort of office with two morticians sitting at desks.

"Hey!" She yelled, "What's going on here?"

The two morticians continued their paper-pushing duties.

"I'm talking to you!" She continued, clinching her fists.

Still, they ignored her. She growled, fanning back her black hair and stepped towards them.

"We'll have to deal with the burn case tomorrow morning." One of the morticians said, opening a drawer.

"Yeah, I know." The other man said, "It's getting late."

Ember walked up to the side of one of the men, leaned down against the desk and waved her hand in his face.

"Helllooo?" She said.

Still no direct recognition.

"Did it just get colder in here, or is that just me?" he asked.

The other mortician shrugged.

"Hmm." the first man said, closing a folder, "I guess it's time to call it a night."

Ember frowned and watched helplessly as the two men put away files and folders in their cabinets and desks. She sighed and realized that she did not inhale afterward.

"You know..." a voice said, sounding as if it was coming from behind.

Ember jumped and turned around to see an older-looking person with the same ghastly skin as her.

"They can't hear you." He continued.

"Who... who are you?" She asked.

"My name is Igor, but that doesn't matter now." He said, crossing his arms.

There was a few seconds of silence, save for the morticians leaving.

"So, I figured out that I'm dead and I guess I'm a ghost." Ember said, "But what happens now?"  
Igor chuckled a bit.

"Well, frankly, you get judged." He said.

"Judged?" Ember asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Yes." He said, "It's not like a court or anything. You'll know really soon where you will go. How did you die, anyway? You're awfully young."

Ember frowned a bit as she looked down.

"I killed myself." She said.

"Ouch." Igor said, "That doesn't look good for you."

"For what?"

"You'll know soon enough." He said, suddenly fading.

"Wait! Don't go!" Ember yelped, watching him vanish.

She reached out for him, but felt nothing; he was gone.

"Damn." She muttered, "What did he mean?"

She looked around at the dimly-lit room. The annoying tick of a wall clock was also in this room. She tried to lean against a desk, but simply penetrated it. Already she missed the sense of touch. Her head hung low as she crossed her arms. She thought about what Igor had said for a few minutes, when something caught her eye. There seemed to be some sort of glowing light coming from the room she had just left. She watched it grow in intensity underneath the door. Bravely, she reentered the room. The glowing light blinded her, but she could hear voices.

"Ember..." The voices said, "We've been waiting for you."

She hesitated, shielding her eyes with both hands.

"Come to us." The voices said.

Slowly, she walked towards the source of the light. The closer she got, the brighter it was. Closing her eyes, the light still shone through.

"That's it. Hurry." The voices continued.

Finally, the light started to dim. After several steps, the light had dimmed enough so that she could make out where she was: some sort of tunnel.

"Good, Ember." The voices said as several beings appeared in front of her.

There were people young and old, big and small, of all ethnicities. She looked behind her and saw nothing but darkness; only when she looked ahead could she see a path.

"Who..." She began to ask.

"Let's go." some of the people said.

Ember followed them. The further they walked, the faster they moved.

"Hurry!" they said, causing Ember to almost jog to keep up with them.

"I am." She said, jogging.

Suddenly, the people disappeared and Ember stopped jogging. She looked confused in the dim light.

"Ah!" She yelped as something shoved her from behind.

She fell to the ground and actually felt pain. Before she could turn over, something pushed her back down. She struggled to look up and saw that she was in some sort of cavern. The warm, white light was gone. Instead, the cavern was lit dimly by a yellowish hue. Finally, the force holding her down let up and she slowly climbed to her feet.

"Where am I?" She said aloud, walking towards a ledge.

She reached it and looked down at a horrific sight; thousands upon thousands of people writhing in pain in a humongous lake of magma. Their screams could suddenly be heard and it was worse than anything she could have ever imagined. She covered her mouth in horror.

"So you like fire?" A voice said from behind.

She spun around to see a large being with burning red pupils. Before she could speak, she was shoved backwards by an unknown force. She screamed as she fell the thirty or so feet and splashed into the magma. The pain she felt was far worse than when she ignited the gasoline when she was alive. She splashed around in the magma, squirming in endless pain for what seemed like an eternity. Her flesh felt as if it continuously melted away as if it was indefinite. Finally, she lost strength and began to sink into the magma. The pain slowly, surprisingly, diminished. When the pain was completely gone, something strange happened. She felt herself lying on her back in an abyss. She felt no emotion anymore. It felt like days passed as she laid motionless and nearly thoughtless. Finally, out of the darkness came a deep voice.

"All that was good in you had died. The fires burned it away."

Ember did not respond.

"You are now pure." the deep voice of unknown origin said.

A faint blue light illuminated the small cave. Slowly, she sat up, but saw no other being.

"Your most darkest inner thoughts have become you." it continued, "And I have given you the power to control the flame."

"Why?" Ember asked.

The voice became deeper.

"You now belong to me. My own spawn."

Ember let her head bow down and noticed that she was wearing punk rock clothes. She turned her head and also noticed the color of her hair was now a ghoulish blue. She was confused, but the voice clarified.

"Your mission is to capture the mind of the youth and conquer the world. Life is not precious. With your powers, you can control the mind of the weak."

The words were tattooed in her mind as if she was being programmed. She suddenly lost all ability for remorse.

"I'm giving you the penchant for music." the voice said, silently granting her the power, "No go forth and do my work."

An evil grin came across her painted face as she slipped out of consciousness briefly.


End file.
